Govt defends reinstatement of senior IAS

LUCKNOW: The state government on Wednesday defended before the high court the reinstatement of senior IAS officer Rajeev Kumar as appointment secretary. The bench of Justice UN Singh and Justice VK Dixit, however, asked the government to file its response within two weeks.

Kumar was convicted by a CBI court in Ghaziabad and sentenced to three-year imprisonment for his role in Noida land allotment scam. But later, the judgment was stayed by the Allahabad high court. On Wednesday, additional advocate general Bulbul Godiyal told the court that since Kumar's conviction was stayed by the court, there was no violation of law in his reinstatement.

A local scribe, Sanjai Sharma, had filed a PIL seeking directions to the Central and state governments to dismiss Kumar since he had been convicted. Sharma's lawyer Ashok Pande argued that under the Constitution of India and Representative Of People's Act, an MP or MLA incurred disqualification if he was sentenced for more than two years."The same principle should be applied in cases of bureaucrats as they should not be given safe passage after conviction in a criminal case," Pande said.

On November 21, the government had transferred Kumar and put him on the waiting list after he was sentenced. Kumar, who was then posted as principal secretary to the departments of appointment, personnel and vigilance, was also divested of his charges. The 1983-batch IAS officer, however, challenged the orders in the High Court.

On December 5, the single judge bench of Justice Mohammed Tahir issued stay orders against Kumar's conviction. And, on December 12, he was reinstated by the state government in the same post. The government had then also justified its action by saying that Kumar had spent a spotless career in civil service where no disciplinary action was initiated against him during the course of his 29 years in service, hence the officer has been reinstated following the stay orders by the Allahabad High Court and in view of Kumar's impeccable.

Former UP chief secretary Neera Yadav was also convicted along with Kumar in the land allotment that took place in 1995. Yadav was then Noida CEO and Kumar was her deputy. Yadav's conviction was also stayed by the Allahabad High Court on December 5, 2012.